Adult Christmas

26 pages

4 m, 2 w, 2 m non-speaking.

"If that means I have to charge more, so be it! If that means that the poor have to go hungry, too bad!" Those are the unfeeling words of Jonas, an innkeeper in Bethlehem. His inn is full and business is booming, thanks to Caesar's decree. But Jonas' wife, Abigail, and daughter, Deborah, cannot talk him into being a more compassionate businessman and helping those less fortunate. Jonas argues he should make all the money he can now for their old age since their son, Rueben, who would have helped take care of them, died much too soon. The way Jonas figures it,...

34 pages

1 m, 3 w, 1 boy, 1 girl, extras.

It's Christmas Eve inside Sizemore's Department Store. Janet, a sales associate, is a new widow trying to cope. The store manager, Mr. Fox, in an attempt to impress his boss, Ms. Sizemore, constantly harasses Janet over small things. Janet's faith is dwindling to nothing until she witnesses a simple nativity reenactment her best friend organizes for the shoppers at the end of the hectic business day. She realizes dealing with life's heartaches becomes a little easier when we slow down long enough to let God's love fill us. A touching story mixed with comic mo...

38 pages

2 m, 3 w, 1 boy.

Lyne and Gary Ambrose don't have the Christmas spirit yet, and may not get it at all this year! Their somewhat spoiled daughter and pampered son-in-law are living with them while he's out of work, and it's a little tense around the house, to say the least. On top of it all, Lyne and Gary agreed to take in a foster child for the holidays, against the advice of their daughter, and the child happens to be the same one who stole Lyne's purse at the mall! Real characters with real problems make this play an affirmation of faith as it reminds us that God does not s...

29 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 girl.

Meet two families who struggle to remember Christmas without allowing "Time" and "Money" to overtake their lives. Susan and Bob, young marrieds, don't even have time to talk once a week, let alone plan for Christmas. Bob is always flying out of town on business, and Susan is involved in her job and too many other organizations. Their next door neighbor, Claude, helps Susan see the necessity to simplify their lives. Meanwhile, Claude's young granddaughter, Jessica, has written a six-page Christmas wish list. Her parents are frantic, knowing they cannot begin t...

30 pages

3 m, 3 w, extras.

Donnie, an ingenious young boy, is determined his father is going to develop faith even if he has to impersonate Gabriel. He might have a dirty robe and a crooked halo, but somehow he gets his point across. Very skillfully blended into this play is a short, sacred pageant. Performance time: 60 minutes.

43 pages

3 m, 2 w

Mary’s best friend, Yana, and Joseph’s best friend, Mendel, succeed in getting their friends together. And so begins a betrothal period in anticipation of a Jewish wedding. Joseph and Mary get to know one another better during the betrothal, and love grows. Joseph is also hard at work on an addition to his home in preparation for Mary to take up residence there. Everyone’s plans change, however, when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary with the news that she will bear the Messiah. Mary’s pregnancy scandalizes the town, strains friendships, and threatens to end ...

24 pages

2 m, 1 w, 5 children.

The Rev. Robert Harper came out West to serve the needs of other pioneer settlers, but he and his wife, Sarah, find their faith wavering. Finally, in the midst of a terrible snowstorm on Christmas Eve, after having attended to an ill woman, Robert and Sarah concede that they were naive in thinking they could withstand the harsh living conditions for themselves and their three children as well as spiritually uplift the other settlers, too. But when a neighbor goes to great trouble to deliver an unexpected box from back East, a box filled with warm clothes, foo...

82 pages

2 m, 2w, 1 male teen

An emotional, heart-opening journey about love, friendship, family, sacrifice, and what it truly means to give begins with an enormous Christmas tree wrestled into the warmth of a Colorado cabin. The Britton family, Brad and Tina and their son Nick, are eagerly anticipating the joy of a fun-filled holiday vacation spent with their close friends, Kyle and Jan, who arrive bearing gifts of sentiment, sarcasm, and sass. The two couples merrily begin to share their laughter, their affection, and their memories of the good ol’ days, but too soon Jan begins to quest...

40 pages

2 m, 4 w.

Richard Franklin is a bitter man who can't stop blaming his son, William, for an accident which killed an older Franklin son one Christmas some 20 years ago. The tragedy has soured their father-son relationship although Richard, an important church member, and William, who is indifferent to religion, have learned to live with it. A crisis this Christmas, however, makes both men face up to the true meaning of what giving - and forgiving - really mean. Additional roles include Betty, the wife, who knows God is the source of all strength; the Franklin daughters;...

35 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible, 1 child, extra voices

Rev. Cordell opens the play as he recalls a Christmas some 20 years earlier when he was trapped with a handful of other strangers by a blizzard in a small Oklahoma diner. He wasn't a pastor then, but a young man full of questions. Seamlessly, we join the group: the owner of the diner who is set in her ways, a middle-aged man with a secret past, an edgy newspaper reporter from out of town, and a young mother completely on her own with a small child who does not speak. No one in the lonesome diner is quite sure of the real meaning of life or where theirs should...

19 pages

2 m, 2 w

Perhaps the most perfect Christmas parable ever written is O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." In this one-act play version is the timeless story of Della and Jim, a struggling young couple who seek to give the other the ideal Christmas gift. They barter their most valued possessions to purchase each other's gifts: Della's beautiful long hair for a watch fob and chain, Jim's watch for a tortoise shell comb set for Della. While the physical gifts prove useless, their love is enriched beyond measure. About 35 minutes. 

20 pages

2 m, 1 w, 1 girl.

Raymond MacDonald Alden's short story, “Why the Chimes Rang,” tells the legend of long ago when, on Christmas Eve, it was the custom for all the people to bring to the church their offerings to the Christ Child. And there had been a time when an unusual offering brought magnificent music from the chimes which were rung, everyone believed, by the angels. But lately, no offering had been great enough ... that is until young, poor boy makes his first pilgrimage through the snow to give his simple gift. Now this classic tale of faith, family, and sacrifice is wov...

24 pages

1 w, 1 flexible

This is the story of two displaced people: Esther, an escapee from a nursing home, and Nathan, a young runaway who is fresh to the streets. They break into an apartment and she feeds Nathan a meal he will never forget. Together they create memories, making up events that they each wish would have happened, from merry Christmas holidays to lazy summer days at baseball games. The more they pretend, the more we see that Esther misses her family members who have passed away and that Nathan is deeply hurt by his divorcing parents. The memories they create will tak...

28 pages

2 m

Something is wrong with Melchior, and it is driving Balthasar insane. Ever since Melchior went to see the baby, he has changed. After a long journey with his fellow magi travelers, Balthasar wants to experience what happened to his friend as he impatiently waits for the third companion to finish meeting the newborn “King.” And what could be more peculiar than the bright star shining above them against the dark night? Finally Melchior explains: “You will walk in with your gift and your prepared speech. Then you will see the babe and everything will change. It ...

33 pages

1 m, 2 w

This play deals with the heartache and the trauma of being old, being alone in the world and forgotten. Mrs. Delmonico, a former actress, lives in a tenement building in New York. She exists mostly in her imagination and takes her torment out on her neighbor, Mrs. Quinn. They are unable to get along in any way until this Christmas Eve when Mr. Gartch, one of the roomers whom they have never met, happens upon the scene. He becomes their catalyst - motivating them to look at things differently. Because of his being so positive and hopeful, and because he is ano...